Silk Peptides and Proteins for Nanomaterials and Medicine

Silk Peptides and Proteins for Nanomaterials and Medicine   

Silks are high molecular weight, amphiphilic, block copolymers.  We exploit these features in the controlled assembly of proteins and peptides based on silks to generate new materials, driven by the nanoscale features associated with key physical crosslinks (beta sheets).  These features modulate the properties of the materials formed, thus allowing fine tuning to control material mechanics, degradation and utility.  These approaches exploit native protein structures, chemically modified variants, and genetically modified block copolymers and chimeric systems.  The utility of these new peptide and protein designs based on silks include fundamental studies of self-assembly for biomaterials, and the potential to integrate synthesis, processing and modeling into predictive designs as a more directed approach in biomaterials design.  This approach offers to accelerate the design process for the development of tailored protein-based biomaterials.